The best quote about this game is this one from Michael Jordan himself: "Whew. They made me a little nervous."
I watched this game with several friends in Charlotte while the wife was lucky enough to get a ticket. The common thread among all 7 of us who watched the game together was that at the end we were all horrendously nervous. The second half of this basketball game was one of the finest displays of crisp basketball that I have ever seens, as well as one of the most hotly contested. As a basketball fan you had to enjoy watching two teams playing that way, with fewer than 10 turnovers each despite the pace that the game was played at, and of course there was the fact that after the first 10 minutes neither team every led by more than 6 points. That such a high level of basketball occurred on the NCAA Tournament stage- in a second round game, no less- made it all that much more enjoyable (or nervous, if you're a UNC or UW fan).
But as nervous as we all were I'm not sure we should have been. It is a statistic that will be frequently cited over the next few days as people try to reflect on what this version of UNC basketball has done. But it is still striking. The Heels are 8-1 in games decided by 3 points or less and 11-2 in games decided by 5 points or less. For all of the emphasis on how young and inexperienced this team is (and they are), they sure don't play like it. That is an absolutely ridiculous record. At some point all season I have expected that this team's penchant for playing with fire in close games will come back to hurt them; it's starting to look like that may not happen.
But two things especially impressed me about this win. The first was that despite this team's success in close games, they won this one with a slightly different blueprint. Yes, Harrison Barnes still hit a big shot (the 3 with 4 minutes left down 76-75), but he really wasn't the story down the stretch. This game was much more about Kendall Marshall and, of all people, Dexter Strickland. Strickland, whose jump shot is the subject of some- ahem- constructive feedback from all-knowing Carolina fans, hit the two biggest free throws of the season with the game on the line. However, he also played some of the best defense I've ever seen on half a meniscus, forcing Isaiah Thomas into such a bad game that he didn't even have the ball down 1 with the game on the line. To be able to find a new way to win a close game, and with a performance like that from a guy that has been solid but not spectacular all season, definitely bodes well as this team continues on in the NCAA Tournament.
The second thing that impresses about this victory is the way that Washington played. As many people pointed out, the Huskies were a red-hot team that presented some a difficult potential matchup for UNC. And then Washington went out and did everything that they needed to do in order to create that matchup. They shot 10-19 from 3. They neutralized UNC's usual dominance in the frontcourt (Zeller got 23 but Henson struggled from the field and UW actually outrebounded UNC by 3, 40-37). They played their style of basketball and hung with UNC in a game that reached 74 possessions. But despite all that, UNC still found a way to win. I think that says a lot about this team. They continue to prove that they can win all types of games, from 86-83 uptempo shootouts against a team that is making over 50% of their 3's to a 48-46 uglyfest over BC back in February. In the NCAA Tournament, often the talent level is so even that a team cannot count on imposing its own style of play, and thus you need to be able to adapt to how the game winds up going. UNC has done just that, and they proved it again in this game.
Now it's on to the Sweet 16. More on the matchup to come later in this week. For now, let's reflect on how UNC took the best punch from the Pac-10 champion and is still playing in the second weekend of the tournament. Don't think I would have believed that two months ago.
More thoughts on a glorious weekend of college basketball:
- The two fouls at the end of the Pitt-Butler game got a lot of press across the ESPN debate show tour today. Personally, I thought both calls were appropriate. While I don't believe the "a foul is a foul, no matter the time" business (even if it should be, human nature will never allow it), both of those fouls were pretty obvious. I'm all for letting the players decide it; in this case, I thought they did by committing the fouls.
- On the other hand, I thought the Texas call was dead wrong, and it definitely mattered. Yes, Texas could have put the game away earlier by not calling the timeout that got them in that inbounds situation. But that cannot excuse the official making a mistake, and it's clear that it was a mistake. If you don't believe me, check out the screenshot on Luke Winn's blog (about 1/4 of the way down). The picture clearly shows the official just starting the arm count as the timeout is being signaled. And I don't know if I buy that this call is a "judgment call." It is counting to five. Even under those circumstances it seems to me that the official should be able to know where he is in his counting to five. But I don't know, I've never been an official.
- I thought the two most impressive victories of the second round were Ohio State and VCU. George Mason is a solid team and the Buckeyes just absolutely dismantled them. As a UNC fan it reminded me of the '05 team, which absolutely destroyed two opponents in the first weekend and talked in the postgame presser about how it was a statement they wanted to make from the first tipoff of the tournament. Although I didn't watch the Bucks' press conference, it seemed like they were making a similar statement. VCU, on the other hand, dismantled a Purdue team that just a few weeks ago was being talked about as a potential number 1 seed. In doing so, they scored 94 points on a team that is ranked 12th nationally in defensive efficiency. Wow.
- I'm also still very high on Kentucky. The 'Cats fought through two difficult games and, somewhat like the Heels, proved that maybe their youth probably will not be a concern as they go down the stretch in this tournament. Young teams, the saying goes, do not do well in pressure moments in the Dance, but the Wildcats have now proven themselves in two such settings. If they weren't drawing the Buckeyes in the Sweet 16, I'd really like them to go to Houston. Even as it is, though, UK's tandem of Terrance Jones and Brandon Knight is easily the most talented such duo that Ohio State has played all season, and you never know how Ohio State will respond to a team that can match them athletically. Other than my homer UNC game, that's definitely the Sweet 16 matchup I'm most excited about.
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